Dcoco & Blythe

In touch with Nature....

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:48:11 GMT

This past weekend was the most beautiful weekend in ages! I feel that life after college goes by incredibly fast. I've graduated almost 4 years ago and it only seemed like yesterday when I cramming for my last final. Where did the time go? This past weekend I had it slow. I took a long walk around my neighborhood and saw all sorts of little worlds and tiny lifeforms all around. Spring is the time for new beginnings and the rebirth of many beautiful perrenials. When they say Mother Nature is magnificent, it IS magnificent.

I am still new to the world of photography. I bought my Minolta A2 for a while now and I haven't really played around with it until now. I can finally blur the background and take some nice closeup shots! It's a lot of fun capturing the nature of beauty onto still life. I have so much to learn from lens to filters, iso speed, aperature, shutter....oye! One step at a time. Here are some images I took over the weekend. Comments please! Thanks!!

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:45:45 GMT

I am finally feeling better! It's been probably 3 weeks of coughing and sneezing and having a fever. I gotta get well this weekend since I'm gonna go to a wedding, don't want everyone to get a cold from me and it's a once in a lifetime thing.. I mean how many times is she really gonna have it?!?

I know that many women after bearing their first child would probably go out of shape and can't ever keep their figure again. Its hard, I know... especially when a girl like me who is madly in love with food. I have trouble keeping my figure and I'm not even married! I just wish that after I have my first child that I will still look as young as my mom, she went back to Vietnam for the first time in 28 years and when she bumped into old neighbors and classmates back there they immediately recognized her! Why??? Because she hasn't changed since the day she left in 1978....I guess she was born petite, but she kept it up all these years too ...

Mom on her 47th birthday this past January! She's the most beautiful woman in the world in my eyes! I love you!!

Happy (fill in the blank) Day !!!

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:26:42 GMT

Happy Singles-Awareness Day!!

Pacific Seafood....

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 05:56:35 GMT

It's almost a year since my visit to Asia, time goes back so fast without you even knowing it. I am so happy that Fotki is now offering unlimited photo storage and I can put as many pictures as I want on that site!

Going back in time, while I was in Vietnam..we stayed at my aunt's friend's house house often and she was a great cook! Since Vietnam is surrounded by large bodies of water, we HAD to have seafood!! We ate like a king while we were back there...when I got back into the states, I tried to eat like that again.. boy I was so broke afterwards..

Here are some of the dishes that we had while I was there:

We bought like 10 lbs of clams...

big lot of gigantic dungeoness (sp?) crabs

My first time eating Mantis shrimps! I must say, these things look hideous, but they were actually the sweetest, most succelent shrimps ever!! If you haven't tried it yet, you should!

These were called "Lai Ding", which is some sort of sandworms probbaly, but they were more expensive than those seafoods and were considered a delicacy in the Hai Phong province in Vietnam.

We just steamed it and dipped the meat in lemon pepper sauce. By just steaming it, you can still preserve the sweetness of the fresh crab flavor.

These were those worms, stir fried with some veggies. I was the bravest one and I ate 2 pieces of them! They were actually pretty good. The texture was kind of rubbery, kinda tastes like calimari. Full of flavor and lots of protein.

These mantis shrimps were HUGE. They are almost like lobsters, but a slightly smaller version. When I went to Hong Kong, they didnt' have mantis shrimp this large, so I didn't bother to eat any while I was there. They also had a different style of cooking it too. It was cantonese style, like those salty fried shrimp that you eat at the Chinese restaurants. Again, we just steamed it here and it was so sweet that I didn't need any type of dipping sauce to enhance its flavors. The natural taste of the meat was already mouthwatering.

And finally...clams....YUMMY!!

Enjoy!!! Will post more pics later....

New Toy!

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 20:27:27 GMT

I thought this was the cutest little pink-haired girl ever! Her hairstyle is so awesome! I don't have a name for her it.....any suggestions? :)

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 20:10:37 GMT

Hello Everyone,

So sorry I have been sooo lazy and things just aren't really going my way these days. Not to mention that I just went through a heartbreak. I didn't think it would end so fast... but it did. Anyways, instead of talking about sad things on a Friday. I just recently came back from Sunny California and I went to this awesome dimsum place which serves really cute dishes. Although, cute doesn't neccesarily mean that it tastes good, it's nice to see something out of the ordinary once in a while. Here are some pictures that I took while I was there: Enjoy!!

This was a butterfly shaped dumpling which is similar to a Har Gow (shrimp dumpling but inside of this has water chesnuts and shrimp together)

Custard bunnies! Very cute, but the taste of it is so-so. I just ordered it because it looked so adorable on the menu. This dish was a little disappointment for me despite the cuteness.

Deep fried veggie rolls covered in white noodle crepe. This one is pretty good, it's got this crunchy texture from the bread and then outside is covered with the smooth noodle crepe.

Sticky-rice Shu Mai dumplings. These were HUGE!! I could only eat half of it. If you like the fried sticky rice, you may like this dish.

Spinach dumpling with scallops and shrimps inside. I liked this one a lot.

I love my roast duck!!

Pork and Thousand year old egg congee...

Multicolored sweet dumplings. These were so cute, here we have red been, mango, melon, and sweet water chestnut flavors!

This was my favorite out of all those cute dishes. Shrimp paste bumblebees wrapped with seaweed. It was buzzing its way into my mouth!! Yummy!

And here is a quick capture of everything on the table!

Thanks for looking! TGIF!!!!!!!!

pink pink pink

Fri, 13 May 2005 20:47:45 GMT

Why is pink such a beautiful color? I love pink so much. I read somewhere in a magazine that a lover of pink is a hopeless romantic and they always want everything to end with "happily ever after." I think I am that kind of person. I want everything to be perfect. Everything to live happily ever after.

Its really easier said than done. I've tried to be perfect in a relationship, I've tried to be friendly in the most possible way to everyone I meet. I've tried to satisfy to the best of my ability to meet everyone's needs. But in the end, do they appreciate me? Do they show their appreciation?

No, they misinterpret that goodness of heart for something bad. For something wicked. No one has ever tried to satisfy my needs. Why should I be so concerned?

Because I don't want people to talk behind my back. But no matter how good you try to be, there will ALWAYS be someone that dislikes you. There will always be someone out there that will try to put you down no matter how nice you are to them. So do you believe in the old chinese proverb -- "If you do good deeds, it gets you good returns? " "Hoe sum yau hoe bo" ?

Yes -- I still do. My time just has not come yet.

Spring is in the Air!

Fri, 13 May 2005 20:11:26 GMT

The flowers were so beautiful, I couldn't resist not to take any pictures. Sophie is posing sweetly next to these Japanese style flowers. This is one of my favorite pics out of the gazillion pictures that I took. I guess it's always like that.. you take dozens of shots, but you can only hand select a few that are pleasing to the eye.

Keep smiling! Happy Friday!!!

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:56:52 GMT

Goodbye Everyone! I will be back in April! This will be my first trip to Asia -- I will be going to Vietnam for 3 weeks and then staying a week in Hong Kong. I will definitely be searching for Blythe goodies in HK. Wish me luck and if I go broke, I'm gonna have to borrow money from Sophie -- my MR!! hehe (@.@) Take care everyone!

X-posted on blythedoll.

Aloe madness!

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 02:39:55 GMT

New Drink of 2k5

Today we went to the Asian Supermarket and my dad decided to buy Aloe and Green Apples to make a smoothie out of them. It was my first time having fresh Aloe. I've eaten Aloes when I went to Canada, it was canned or bagged in syrup. It was like a cheap version of Bird's nest or something, they claimed it was good for your skin. I guess it is, with Vitamin E and other nutrients. When you attempt to skin the Aloe, watch out, it is FULL OF SLIME! It's quite distingusting, almost equivalent to eating okras, if you guys have eaten those vegetables. I don't mind okras if you cook it along with tomatoes. The acidity in the tomatoes actually gets rid (or perhaps thins the substance to a watery texture) of most of the sliminess associated with the okras. I was hoping that the green apples would do the same thing with the aloe goo.

Next step, we just chopped up the aloe into pieces, just like the apples above, and put them all in a blender with some chopped or crumbled ice cubes. Add a teaspoon of sugar or whatever amount that suits your tastebuds and voila!

What do I do with the slime??? Someone told me that I can rub the slime onto my skin... its supposed to make my skin glow! :-p

Cool Art!

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 01:36:06 GMT

Cool art that will mess with your head! Enjoy!

How many horses do you see? You should get 7.

Look at the middle column. Where does it end?

In the above, do you see 4 people?

Who is the tallest?

Do you a "face" or the word "liar" ?

NEXT: What do you see here? Do you see the word "LIFT"?

Or, a bunch of black splotches?

Find the Faces!

Last One: Focus on the Dot!

What happens to the object?

Happy Chinese New Year!

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 20:05:37 GMT

Ok, it's an old picture of my cousins... I didn't have time to take any new pictures with them this year. I hope everyone will have a cluck-u cock-a-doodle-doo Chinese New Year! I am highly superstitious and they said that this year of the Rooster won't be a happening year for us Sheeps. *sigh* So guess what? I'll be wearing bright RED tomorrow to ward off evil and try to hoard up some good luck for the year.

Gong Hey Fat Choi (canto)

Gong Xi Fa Chai (mandarin)

Chuc Man Num Moui (viet -- I know I spelled it wrong -- sorry!)

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 13:51:42 GMT

I don't know when this happened but somehow I have accumulated 50 gmail invites. Gmail is great with the amount of storage space it gives you, but honestly, I hardly even use it. With all the competition, I think Yahoo and Hotmail is already great with 250MB email storage. I think everyone I know already has a gmail account, so if anyone STILL needs or wants an account, just let me know. I've got plenty to spare.

BabyPhat Republic

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 20:24:27 GMT

Also.. I haven't really been advertising my site in a LONG time, perhaps a year almost... My online store is still launched.. here's a coupon but it will expire soon. Thanks for looking!

The following stores are still opened, so let me present to you the kids of BabyPhat Republic once again! Another character that is my personal favorite is Wooki -- little girl, big sword.

Please visit each one by clicking on the icon of each kid! I appreciate all the support! Thank you to everyone who has made a purchase! Thank you to all who have at least looked at the products too!

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brrrr....man its cold!

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 19:32:52 GMT

It finally snowed in Maryland. The beautiful soft and fluffy snow was such a pleasing sight to my eye. I had to go out and take a few pictures. Sorry for the vain self portraits....(>.<)

What gender is a computer?

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 17:50:08 GMT

I got this from a friend.. thought it was quite cute :)

A French teacher was explaining to her class that in French, unlike
English,
nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine (e.g. "House" is
feminine, "la maison"; "Pencil" is masculine, "le crayon").

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups
--
male and female -- and asked them to decide for themselves whether
"computer" should be a masculine or feminine noun. Each group was asked to
give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the
feminine
gender ("la computer"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is
incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for immediate
later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending
half
your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine
("le computer"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they
ARE
the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a
little
longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won

Hungry???

Fri, 07 Jan 2005 14:56:36 GMT

So I did a little gourmet cooking over the holidays... here are some of the entrees that I managed to dish out.

For breakfast:

I dont' know why these are so such small bitmaps :-(

Left: Stuffed Filet with Crabmeat

Right: Lambchops with a Spicy Curry Sauce

Crabcakes, mussels, and a fresh salad on the side...

And finally ... dessert :)

Another day, another dollar

Mon, 03 Jan 2005 18:48:08 GMT

Well, it's back to work again... *sigh* I missed those winter breaks that we used to get in college....

old pic...

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 02:33:20 GMT

I know I'm a late bloomer...everyone probably has this set of Mary-Kate and Ashley doll outfit. .. :-( I've been so lazy and haven't made any clothes for Sophie to wear.. gotta start sewing again...argh...yes, that will be on my Resolutions List for 2005 (o.O)

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 02:13:05 GMT

This was a very sweet forward that my friend sent out and I thought it was worth the post :) I hope everyone will have a kickass New Year!!!!

Today's teachings....

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:25:23 GMT

Love is Essential to All Religions

Forming a new world religion is difficult and not particularly desirable. However, in that love is essential to all religions, one could speak of the universal religion of love.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Has 2004 been a good year?

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:02:25 GMT

唯一幾更多天離開在2004 年之前是結束。您認為它是一好年嗎? 為什麼或為什麼不是?

Only a few more days left before 2004 is over. Do you think it has been a good year? Why or why not?

This year overall has been a pretty gloomy year. Lots of sad things have happened, even though it is very indirectly towards me. One of my friend's mother died of cancer, a week later, another friend's father died of a heart attack. It affected my friends dearly, which indirectly affected my mood of the Christmas season. There was also the death of James Wong. A very talented lyricist from Hong Kong died of cancer. I liked a lot of his creations and everytime I listen to them I feel very nostalgic. Then this horrible earthquake and tsumani waves that killed thousands of people and left many homeless and struggling to survive. About 40,000 people vanished as the deathtoll slowly arises.

Is it because that we are in the Year of the Monkey? Many things tend to happen in the Monkey Years? Because monkeys are mischeivious and naughty at times? I have no idea. But I sure do hope that it all ends soon and that the New Year will bring us a new hope.

為什麼生活必須是很苛刻和哀傷的。

我盼望幸福和和平。

Sophie's first Christmas!

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 14:13:45 GMT

Happy Holidays!!

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 17:44:03 GMT

This weekend I had a great time with my little cousins constructing our Gingerbread houses! It was actually my first time having a successful house! When you see all those candies and frosting on the table.. all you have are happy thoughts!! :)

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

McDull!!

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 14:29:25 GMT

I thought this was cute... sorry for my non-cantonese readers :(

Bundle up everyone and Happy Holidays! :)